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In 1983, Jerome Whittaker, known to Barney as his "Uncle Jerry", tells Barney that his mother thinks he is a bad influence on Barney and doesn't want them to spend time together anymore. Jerry asks Barney for the souvenir button they got from a rock concert together, and using a sleight of hand magic trick, claims he just hid the button inside Barney's brain, so that Barney won't forget him. Jerry says his final words to Barney - "Never stop partying" - before he leaves.

Barney didn't see Jerry again until 2011, however this time Barney was the one to walk away. However, a few weeks later, Barney meets the gang at The apartment, complaining that his Dad is now a boring suburban Dad, when he used to be "Crazy Jerry", an awesome party animal. Barney decides to plan for his Dad the "awesomest" night of all time on Saturday night, to bring back Crazy Jerry.

Saturday night comes, and Barney meets the gang down in MacLaren's Pub before his Dad arrives. To make the night more awesome, he tries to improve the gang's identities by giving them new personas. Robin is now a professional scotch taster dating Ted, Lily and Marshall are in an open marriage, and Marshall is a successful playwright.

When Barney's dad arrives, they visit the club Hopeless. Robin spots her secret crush at the club. Years beforehand, Robin was out clothes shopping and a man (who later became Robin's crush) asked her for her opinion on his clothes.

Ted introducing himself to Robin's crush.

Robin approaches her crush at the bar and the two start flirting. Ted quickly jumps in, introducing himself as Robin's boyfriend, driving the man away. Future Ted implies that something might happen between them.

Meanwhile, things aren't going well between Barney and Jerry. Jerry doesn't want to drink, since he has a fishing trip with J.J. in the morning. In an attempt to get Jerry to relax, Barney reminds him of the last words he said to Barney: Never stop partying. Jerry reveals that he doesn't remember that at all, and a visibly upset Barney tells Jerry to go home, since he only wants to spend time with Crazy Jerry, not "stay at home Jerome". Jerry, who desperately wants to spend time with Barney, decides to stay and quickly does four shots.

As a drunk Jerry starts dancing, Marshall and Lily argue about who could do better than the other if they were actually in an open marriage. They decide to see who can flirt with other club patrons and get five phone numbers first.

Jerry and Barney decide to leave the club and hit "the greatest party in the world: the streets of New York".

With the rest of the gang occupied, Robin asks Ted for help "breaking up" so that she can flirt with him. Ted asks where they met, and discovers that Robin met him while they were still dating, and realizes she was thinking about him when she and Ted had sex later that night. Rather than break up in front of Robin's crush, Ted pretends to propose to her, ruining their chances of ever dating.

Out in New York, Jerry and Barney get up to some drunken antics; getting in fights, destroying parking meters and vomiting on police cars. The two are arrested and while handcuffed on the street, Jerry reveals that he's not actually drunk; he didn't want to drink, but Barney wouldn't take no for an answer, so he used another sleight of hand trick to pour out the alcohol in the shot glasses before he drank from them.

Jerry apologizes, saying he only lied so that he could spend time with Barney, since Barney didn't want to attend his fishing trip with J.J. The two of them break out of their handcuffs and run down the street away from the police. Remembering the fishing trip, Jerry and Barney get a lift home with one of Jerry's driving students.

While driving, Barney asks how he managed to settle down, revealing his fears that he'll never be able to. The two share a heartfelt conversation, and once they reach the house, Jerry gives the old souvenir button from 1983 to Barney, telling him how important it is to him.

As Jerry leaves the car, Barney reconsiders and decides to go fishing with his Dad and J.J.

Meanwhile back at the club, Robin reminds Ted how he bought his red cowboy boots against Robin's advice, simply because the cute worker at the store suggested he buy them, and so he should stop being so hypocritical. As they walk home with Marshall and Lily (Lily having won their "first to five numbers" competition), Robin laments that it just wasn't meant to be with her secret crush. Her crush appears to be talking to someone on the phone and saying that Robin is engaged and that's the end of that. Future Ted narrates that "it wasn't the end of that... but more on that later."

At the end of the episode, Barney is seen fishing with Jerry and J.J. He ends the episode saying- "This...sucks."

Okay, my dad's almost here. I need everything to be as awesome as possible tonight.

Lily:

That's why you brought these guys.

Barney:

No. That's why I brought these guys. (Gets several cards out of his inside pocket) I've made some minor improvements to your identities. Uh. Mm! You'll find them on these cards.

Marshall:

Improvements?!

Barney:

Yeah.

Marshall:

Bro, we are already the four jiggity-jamminest dudes and dudettes this side of... Okay, let's see the cards.

Barney:

Robin, no one watches the news unless it's a car chase or a nip slip. You are now a professional scotch taster. Lily, Jerry needs to learn that other lifestyles are just as fulfilling as monogamy, so now you and Marshall are in an open marriage.

Lily:

Whoo-hoo!

Marshall:

Gross!

Barney:

Also, Marshall, you can't just be unemployed, so you are now a gin-swilling, womanizing playwright. And, Ted, just be yourself. (chuckles) Just kidding. Here's a giant pile of topics you should avoid talking about.

Ted:

Well. Well, this could actually be fun. In fact, I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said, "Man is least himself when he talks..."

Barney:

Ted, card.

Ted:

Ah. You're right... "No quoting Oscar Wilde."

Barney:

Finally... Robin, you're dating Ted.

Robin:

Aw, man! Why?

Barney:

I can't have any single female friends lying around. My dad'll be all, Why don't you marry Robin? You guys are cute together. Deep down, you know you were never happier than when you were with her. Uh... (chuckles) no, thanks.

Lily:

Hey, Barney... love the new identities. Little thing... instead of being a naked super ninja, can I be Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada?

In Natural History, Barney tells Robin that he last saw his dad when they came to the museum. That was the day he damaged the blue whale in an exhibit. The security officer dates the incident to July 23, 1981, when Barney was five, but Barney's dad says they met last when Barney was six.

Jerry made a simple math error for an event which happened two decades ago.

Robin's crush's "ugly shirt" was previously worn by Lawrence, the man who bought Lily's painting for the frame, in Everything Must Go. (Which is ironic as he was supposedly a "man of style")

In retrospect, he also agreed that Ted pulled off his red cowboy boots, so Lawrence's style is questionable.

The conversation about the names of the clubs is reminiscent of Abbott and Costello's Who's on First? joke. Jerome yells out "I don't know, Third Base" referring to the sketch.

When Barney approaches and questions Jerome (John Lithgow) about being on the dance floor, Jerome's "small town preacher - law against dancing" comment is directed at the 1984 film Footloose, where John Lithgow plays the small town preacher who gets a law passed against dancing.

Robert Canning at IGN gave the episode an 8.5 out of 10.[5] He felt that "The episode, while sweetly putting Barney and his dad into a much better place, was also one of the funnier episodes of the last few. There were plenty of great references to the history of the series, including Ted's red cowboy boots, and some funny bits referencing Lithgow's role in Footloose and the classic comedy stylings of Abbott and Costello. Plus the gang's fake band breaking into the series' theme was delightful. Overall, after a couple weeks off, How I Met Your Mother came back strong."

The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 8 out of 10 stars. "...never...stop...partying...[and] awesome opening credits"